


The Deepest Cut

by GaeilgeRua



Series: Scríofa ag Rua [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Death, Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Exsanguination, Gen, Harry Potter ABCs of Death: A Halloween Fest, Language, Major character death - Freeform, Non-Canonical Character Death, Pre-Battle of Hogwarts, Tissue Warning, You might want to grab a bottle of wine and some chocolate before reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:55:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27156922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaeilgeRua/pseuds/GaeilgeRua
Summary: Dobby wasn't the only one to die that day.
Series: Scríofa ag Rua [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965694
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11
Collections: 31 Days of Writing Challenge - Fall 2020, Harry Potter ABCs of Death: A Halloween Fest, Hermione's Haven





	The Deepest Cut

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Art3misiA](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Art3misiA/gifts).



> Please don't say I didn't warn you.
> 
> Written for Art3misiA's Harry Potter ABCs of Death: A Halloween Fest. The letter I was given was E and the method I chose was Exsanguination.
> 
> I cannot thank Squarepeg72 enough for not only reading this over but listening to me when I started talking about this idea and not thinking I was crazy. If there are any errors after she read it over, they are my own.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own anything or anyone recognizable from the HP world. I am not making any money off of this.

“DOBBY!” Harry screamed as he caught a glimpse of the house-elf. The hilt of Bellatrix’s silver dagger jutted out from Dobby’s chest. “NO!”

Harry caught the elf as he swayed, laying him down on the cool grass.

“Don’t die,” he pleaded. “Dobby—” Harry’s voice caught in his throat as the little elf coughed. Swallowing around the lump, he whispered, “Please don’t die, Dobby.”

The elf’s eyes darted wildly around before finally landing on Harry’s green orbs. His breath rattled in his chest as he was finally able to form two words, “Harry... Potter…”

Another shaky breath left the elf before he stilled, leaving his usually bright, wide green eyes dull and glassy. Harry vaguely noticed that the stars above were reflected in them before tears blurred his vision.

“Harry,” Ron whispered as he tugged on the back of his shirt.

He tried to move away, but Ron tightened his grip.

The redhead said his name again, but even through his grief over the little elf, Harry could hear the panic in Ron’s voice.

Looking up over his shoulder, Harry’s gaze met Ron’s above him. “What is it?”

Ron shook his head before he dragged Harry to his feet.

Harry tried again to pull himself out of Ron’s grip, exclaiming, “I can’t leave Dobby!”

“Yes, you can,” Ron told him. “We have something more important to worry about right now.”

“What could be more important than Dobby dying?” Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ron replied with only one word, “Hermione.”

Harry’s brows furrowed. “What about her?”

“She’s gone,” Ron said. His voice was strained, and Harry could see that his eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed as if he had been crying.

“What do you mean she’s gone? Where did she go?” Harry looked around behind Ron, but he couldn’t see her. His eyes dropped to the ground behind his friend where he could see a second prone figure. He shoved passed Ron. “NO! Nonononononono. Not you too.”

Reaching the body of his best friend, Harry dropped to his knees. Completely ignoring the blood covering her, he gathered her into his arms. Rocking her back and forth, he whispered into her matted hair, “I’m going to kill that bitch if it’s the last thing I do.”

“It very well may be if you continue to stay out here carrying on as you have been,” a new voice said.

“Bill,” Ron warned.

“Your brother iz right,” Fleur said as she followed behind her husband. “We need to move inside.”

“NO!” Harry yelled. “My best friend is dead! Dobby is dead! I’m not going anywhere!”

“Yes, you are, Harry. I will carry Hermione and Ron can carry Dobby, but we are all going inside,” Bill said. “Our house might be a safe house, but that doesn’t mean much right now with Death Eaters everywhere, so we need to move into the safety of the cottage and not be out in the open.”

“I’ll carry Dobby,” Harry replied as he stood up, leaving Hermione lying on the ground.

Bill shook his head. “I want you and Fleur to help Griphook.”

Harry started to argue with the older wizard, but he snapped his mouth shut when Fleur wrapped her hand around his and led him over to where the goblin had been standing since they arrived.

“Can you walk or would you rather I carry you?” Harry asked once they were close to Griphook.

“I will walk,” the goblin replied.

“‘Arry and I will be on either side of you,” Fleur offered. At the goblin’s dark look, she added, “Just in case.”

The small group made their way towards the cottage Harry had seen earlier upon their arrival. It was slow going as they were moving at the pace Griphook set so the goblin wouldn’t need to be carried since it wasn’t what he wanted.

Harry wanted to hurry Griphook along as he needed to find out exactly what happened to Hermione. He knew that Dobby had taken Bellatrix’s dagger in the chest, but Hermione had been covered in so much blood that he couldn’t tell. The only thing Harry knew was that his best friend was gone.

Looking back over his shoulder, Harry’s eyes connected with the blue eyes of his other best friend. They were on their own now, and neither knew what to do now. Harry could tell that Ron knew it too.

The group reached the steps that led to Bill and Fleur’s home, and soon Harry found himself and Ron sitting in the cosy sitting room alone. Fleur had taken Dobby from Ron, and along with Bill and Griphook, they disappeared up the stairs. Harry and Ron tried to follow, but a dark look and an ordered bark of, “Stay down here,” from the older wizard had the two friends staying put.

The silence continued between the two until Harry couldn’t take it any longer and blurted out the first words that came to mind, “What happened to Hermione?”

The anguish on the redhead’s face shattered Harry’s already broken heart even more. Ron took a few deep breaths before he opened his mouth to reply, but the voice of his brother had Ron swallowing his words.

“That’s exactly what I’d like to know,” Bill said as he stepped into the room. “I finally got her cleaned, and what do I find? Her neck has been sliced open, and she bled out. Same as your little elf friend, Harry. And I’d probably have to say with the same knife too.” Bill sat in the overstuffed chair across from the two-seater sofa Harry and Ron had commandeered. “What have you lot been up to?”

Ron exchanged a look with Harry, but neither said anything.

Bill slammed his fist against the arm of his chair. “I don’t have the patience to deal with you trying to decide if you should tell me or not! I have two dead bodies and an injured goblin upstairs, and I want to know what’s going on!” Both boys hesitated again. “NOW!”

Harry sighed. “Dumbledore gave us, or rather, me a task,” he said before he launched into an explanation of what the trio had been up to since their disappearance back in August.

As Harry fell silent, he looked up to find Bill staring at him in shock. The other wizard finally found his voice, “You mean to tell me that the three of you have been running around Britain blind, searching for missing pieces of that man’s soul? And Dumbledore gave you that task?”

“Yes,” Harry replied sheepishly.

“If he weren’t already dead, I’d kill him myself,” Bill growled. After a few moments, he nodded his head as if coming to a conclusion and leant forward in his seat. “What do you have left to do? And don’t tell me you’re doing it on your own because it’s not happening now.”

Harry wanted to follow Dumbledore’s wishes, but he knew that with Hermione gone, he and Ron wouldn’t stand a chance. Giving his friend a nod, the two of them explained the rest of what they knew about the horcruxes and what they could hear from their cell when Hermione had been tortured earlier.

“First things first, we’ll need to talk with Griphook tomorrow once he’s had a chance to rest,” Bill said. “Tomorrow we’ll also bury Dobby and Hermione. We’ll need to reach out to her parents and let them know what’s happened too. But for now, let’s try and get some rest.”

Harry and Ron nodded their heads and stood up with Bill to make their way upstairs, none of the three men realising that Wendell and Monica Wilkins had no idea they had a daughter. It wouldn’t be until after they won the war later that year, and Bill, along with his wife, travelled to Australia to break the news to the couple that they learned the sad truth.


End file.
